For The Rest of My Life
by greenkat92
Summary: I want for you to smile like this every day for the rest of your life.


For the Rest of My Life

I want to protect you for the rest of my life.

The boy stares up at the ceiling of his room, thinking, these words unable to escape his mind. Her face shows in his memories and he frowns to himself, unhappy with the fact that he was incapable of telling her that. Rolling over onto his side, he looks out the window of his room, the sky just barely visible above his neighbors' home. It was nearly noon, and all day he had done nothing but lay there, what a waste. Sighing, he sits up and runs his fingers through his messy hair, he has to tell her, or soon he won't be able to deal with it. Standing up, he picks up his glasses off of a small table, walks over to his door and walks out in to the main part of his families' house, today he'll tell her.

"I'm going to be out for a while father," a young girl says softly, bowing respectively to her parent. He nods to her, almost hardly noticing her, then turns back to what he was doing. Silently, she leaves the building and steps onto the long and crowded street, glancing left and right. Today I will tell him the truth, she tells herself, it's been so long since it started, and he deserves to know. She blushes just thinking about his face, and searches the town with her eyes. The bright sun shines down, not as hotly as it seems like it should be, the autumn air rushes about, carrying brown, red, and orange leaves on its invisible and cold fingertips. She pauses for a moment, thinking over where he would be and smiles, because the first place he'd be is so obvious. A delicious smell drifts through the air and she follows it to where she hoped her crush would be.

Walking down the street silently, he can't help but be frustrated, where would she be? Passing her household, he longs to go and knock on the door and ask for her, but he knows he can't. He bows his head, embarrassed, what if she's there and I'm just avoiding the chance because I'm scared of what she'll say? He asks himself, sadly. He looks at the building, yearning to go to the door, and then starts forward on the street again. If I can't find her in town, then I'll go to her house, he decides. If I go there first and she's not there, then her family may bother me with questions, he tries to figure out where in town she would be, and then realizes something. She's been hanging around the Ichiraku Noodle Shop a lot lately, maybe she's there, and I could even buy her a bowl of ramen! He thinks, smiling to himself. Turning his path down another street, he walks towards where the restaurant is.

Silently she arrives, pushing forward through the crowd; she searches the bar seats, looking for his clothing, after not seeing him, she sighs, disappointed. I guess I can just wait, she thinks to herself, sitting on a stool that was a distance from the other two people dining there. The man behind the bar moves around, dishes rattling and boiling water sizzles as few drops escape off onto the stove. Steam rises from bowls as he hands them to the customers, then turns to her. "How can I help you?" he questions, smiling. She looks at him thoughtfully, and then decides to ask.

Sifting his way through the town's crowd he dodges others, hating being so close to everyone. The Ichiraku noodle Shop comes into view, and he withholds a smile, not wanting his intentions to be too obvious, there she was, sitting at the counter and talking to the cook. The cook shakes his head to her and goes off to dry some bowls- she looks down sadly. Now could be my chance, he thinks to himself, suddenly aware of how messy his hair was and the fact that he was wearing the same thing as yesterday. She turns her head, obviously looking for something or someone. He tries to discourage himself- I should go clean up some, maybe now isn't the best ti-

"Hi Shino!" she says, turning around and seeing him, she smiles a little and waves him over softly. He stares at her, knowing it was too late to get away, and smiles inwardly at how sweet she is at times like this, maybe it won't be so hard… Walking over, he takes a seat next to her, glad that his glasses hid his eyes so that she wouldn't see him staring at her. His cheeks blush the slightest bit, but he hopes she won't notice.

"Hinata, what is the matter?" he asks, unable to ignore the distant and thoughtful look that seemed to be glued on her face. She looks up at him, blushing out of embarrassment that he noticed- is it so obvious? She glances at the cook, wondering if he had figured it out by now. Biting her lip worriedly, she looks back to Shino.

"I- I need to ask you something," she said softly, looking down at her hands that were together in her lap. Shino nods to her for her to go on. What could she want from me? He asks himself, unable to keep from being flattered by this. She looks up at him, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red. "Am I braver now?" she asks, not keeping eye contact, her sight drifting all around. He smiles, this time showing it, at her shyness to ask this.

"Yes you are," he replies without a second thought. Hinata looks up, surprised at how definite he had sounded, and how quickly he had answered a question, that to her, was impossible to respond to. "You shouldn't have to question that- why did you ask?" he asks her, trying not to fumble with the words he had only moments to think up. Why is she asking such a question? She is a great ninja, improving with every day and every moment of her life, how could she not know that? She looks back down at her hands, anxiously, unsure if she should tell him, or ask him.

"Y- you see," she begins, her voice drifting off with her mind, she imagines herself as a couple with her crush and bites her lip again, anxious that it wouldn't come true. She has to ask him. "Would it be weird to tell a person that I wanted to see them smile and be happy every day for the rest of my life?" she asks, her entire face a bright red. She wrings her hands together nervously. Shocked, Shino stares at her face, not sure if he really just heard what she said. 'To tell a person', was she talking about him? His confidence increases some- 'for the rest of my life'- he had thought almost the same thing as she just said, she's so perfect. Some of her hair falls into her face, he picks up the courage and brushes it aside gently, then realizes how bad his hand is shaking and yanks it back down, blushing. Hinata doesn't really seem to notice.

"No, it's not weird to tell someone that if you truly mean it," he says, wondering if what he did was too bold. He can't help but want to ask. "Are you feeling that for someone?" he questions, trying not to be too obvious. She glances up at him, then down again, her face as red as could be. She tenses up for a moment, then reaches over and clasps his hands in hers, a look of desperateness in her face. Shino jumps a little, completely surprised. He stares at her; unable to move or speak, absolutely shocked.

"_I have to tell you something, but you have to promise not to tell anyone_!" she cries out, looking very nervous and upset, some people glance over at them, but Shino and Hinata don't seem to care. He nods silently, unable to conjure up his voice, his hands sweat a little and he worries that this will gross her out and make her want to stop holding his hands. Her face still red, she half-shouts again, "_You have to promise not to laugh either_!" she commands. She wasn't truly shouting, but compared to how her usual voice is, this was rather loud.

I won't do anything that you do not wish for me to, I promise," he says softly and nervously. He was scared earlier that he was going to have to tell her that he liked her first, but it looks like the tables have turned. She lets go of his hands slowly and sits back in her stool a little bit, her hands back in her lap, and her sight on them again. Shino's hands remain how they were and he tries not to show how disappointed he was that she let go; did he say something wrong?

"Well I like someone, but I- I'm unsure of how to tell him," she says, honestly. She keeps her gaze down and bites her lip again.

"Just tell him that you like him, I'm sure that he feels the same for you," Shino says, trying his best not to blush, he pushes his glasses further up the ridge of his nose as they try to slip down. Maybe if he's just subtle enough, he can coax her into telling him first.

"But what if he doesn't like me back?" she asks softly, her voice hardly a whisper. Sadness creeps onto her face and she doesn't bother to try to disguise it. Shino looks at her sadly, realizing how much this was torturing her.

"There's no way he couldn't like you," he says, blushing, unable to hide it, luckily, she wasn't looking up at him. She smiles a little, after frowning for a moment.

"Thank you Shino!" she says sweetly, she leans over and hugs him, wrapping her arms around his neck gracefully. He sits there in her hold, savoring every moment of it before they would separate. Slowly, she sits away from him. "And for your kindness, I will tell you who it is," she says, softly, her face no longer pink or red, now just her normal color. Energy flows Shino as her gazes into her eyes, ready to reply with a casual 'I like you too', he should make it simple so that it doesn't seem too over-excited or out of his norm.

"I want to tell Naruto that I am in love with him," she says gently, a slight smile passing on her lips as she says the blonde ninja's name. Shino looks at her blankly; his heart feeling as if it was forcing it's self to separate. Tears of anger and sadness rip away at his eyes, but he blocks them from escaping, and is relieved that his glasses are there to block how sad he must look. Hinata seems to notice this.

"What's wrong Shino?" she asks curiously and worried- is he thinking that there is no chance for Naruto and me? She asks herself, trying to not feel panicked. Gathering his voice, he tries to push aside his heart broken emotions, and looks to Hinata, putting a false smile on his face.

"Nothing is wrong," he says lowly, his voice very quiet. "I promise you that I will be here for you no matter how he replies," Shino says softly, already knowing how Naruto would reply. He'd first have his jaw drop in shock, then do an odd dance while shouting 'YES!' as loud as possible, then he would take Hinata into his arms and hold her close against him, hugging her for a while, and she'd hug back and smile. He tries not to frown in his jealousy.

"Thank you Shino," Hinata says quietly, slowly standing from the stool, as she notices an orange outfit topped with a mop of blonde hair. She smiles her worries away at Shino, then heads towards Naruto slowly, stumbling on her own feet for a moment. As she reaches Naruto, Shino turns away from them, and towards the kitchen to the restaurant on his stool. He looks down at the counter ahead of him a sad smile on his lips as the tears try to escape from his eyes, his hands shaking some. Why couldn't I have told her a long time ago, she might have said yes then, but now- he looks over at them slowly, as Naruto grabs Hinata into his arms, her face turns red and she smiles softly, leaning into him. Shino shakes his head wearily, realizing how selfish he was acting. Standing up, he begins down the street, away from Hinata and Naruto.

I want for you to smile like this every day for the rest of your life.


End file.
